Orangemen, Green Billy

I placed second in the annual NCAA hoops pool in which I participate. Forty bucks in winnings – soon to be buying cold pints near you. I did some quick math on my history in the pool:

14 years as participant x $5 per entry = $70 invested
First place winner in 1993 = $100 returned
Second place winner in 2003 = $40 returned

A total of $140 won, which means I’ve doubled my investment. Not bad for a guy who did not watch a minute of college hoops all season and cannot tell you how many time-outs a team gets per half. (It’s twenty, isn’t it? Or at least it feels as such – and by the way, aren’t the last couple minutes of a close hoops game excruciatingly draining … time-out tv commercial foul foul time-out tv commercial time-out tv commercial fout time-out tv commercial foul time-out tv commercial foul time-out tv commercial foul foul fimeout tv commercial somebody wins …)

The operator of the pool told me this: after the first two rounds of play, I pointed out an error on my score that took away two points – the two points that would have secured me first place. But as I had stated to him when reporting the error: the entry fee was five dollars and when mailing him that fiver I stared at a photo of Abraham Lincoln. I simply had to self-report any scoring errors – Honest Abe himself would have it no other way. And soon his friends the Jackson Twins will be treating me to Leinys at the CC. Set 'em up!